Cyanide Coffee Murder: Jessica Wongso To Face 20 Years In Jail

"The defendant’s act was especially cruel as it was committed against her best friend.”
- by
marie claire

07 Oct
2016

Getty

Jessica Kumala Wongso, a former design student from Sydney is facing allegations over murdering her best friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, by slipping cyanide into her coffee.

The 27-year-old allegedly invited Salihin, also 27, to a popular café in Jakarta and ordered her a Vietnamese iced coffee.

Indonesian prosecutors alleged that Wongso carried out her plan to kill “meticulously” noting that Wongso intended to kill her fellow design student after Salihin advised her to break up with her boyfriend as he was using drugs.

Police said she masked the coffee from CCTV footage by placing bags on the table so she couldn’t be seen dropping the poison into the victims coffee, reports The Guardian.

Salihin collapsed soon after drinking the coffee and died in hospital.

Prosecutor Melanie Wuwung told the court in her closing statement “the defendant’s act was especially cruel as it was committed against her best friend.”

“The cyanide used to end the victims life did not kill her directly, but instead tortured her until death.”

Wongso is set to face 20 years in prison if she is found guilty but has since denied the charges telling the court she had no memory of key details from the day. She claimed that everything moved so quickly once Salihin drank the coffee and made a remark about the odd taste.

The maximum punishment for premeditated murder in Indonesia is the death penalty however Australian authorities have agreed to assist with the case as long as the death penalty isn’t handed out.

The defense told the court that the case against Wongso lacks evidence to prove she’s guilty with toxicology reports showing Salihin tested negative to cyanide in gastric fluid, bile, liver and urine 70 minutes after her death.